


Waiting for Tomorrow

by RainbowMech (charlion_em)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, little angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 14:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7225489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlion_em/pseuds/RainbowMech
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shiro and Keith have a talk about their friendship and future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waiting for Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> I know- I have a million other things I should be working on.. but I binge watched the new Voltron last night/this morning and I HAVE TOO MANY FEELS.
> 
> This is just a quick shippy fic for Keith x Shiro. Please, don’t take this as me not liking Lance x Keith, bc I totally like that ship too!

Shiro’s head rested in his hand as he stirred around his food. Despite his earlier hunger, he just couldn’t bring himself to eat. With a sigh he dropped his spoon, giving up the pretense of eating.

Around him, the other Paladins chattered away. Pidge was animatedly describing a new upgrade to Hunk, who was in turn giving his own suggestions. And directly across from him, Lance and Keith bickered. Shiro couldn’t pinpoint exactly what this particular argument was over, but he didn’t miss the side-glances Lance sent to Keith.

Those lingering looks were getting longer and longer as the weeks past. He wasn’t sure if Lance was even aware he was doing it… but Keith was very painfully unaware. Some things never did change, did they?

“Hey!” Lance poked a finger into Keith’s nose. “Take that back.”

Keith smirked, opening his mouth as if to retort, but instead he caught Lance’s finger between his teeth.

“Ouch!” Lance tugged his finger free, glaring as he leaned away. “Savage.”

“Personal space.” Keith went back to his dinner.

Lance scrunched his face, then his lips twisted. He leaned back over, his finger hovering barely an inch from Keith’s cheek. “I’m not touching you.”

Keith’s eyebrow twitched, but he stayed focused on his meal.

“Not tooouuuchhhhingggg youuuuu.” Lance moved his finger around Keith’s face, sticking his tongue out.

An elbow to Shiro’s side pulled his attention away from the two. He glanced down to Pidge, who leaned in close and whispered behind her hand, “When do you think they’ll stop flirting and get together?”

Flirting…

Shiro spared a glance to Hunk, who made smoochy faces at the two arguing paladins. If they both saw it too… then it wasn’t just him reading into it too much.

“Shiro?” Pidge tilted her head when he didn’t respond. “Are you-”

“Sorry, I’m just tired.” He glanced over to Keith, who was now twisting one of Lance’s ears. “I think I’m going to call it a night.”

Shiro pushed himself from the table and retreated from the dining hall. His heart thumped painfully in his chest, the feeling all too familiar.

 

Keith looked up when Shiro stood from the table. His grip on Lance’s ear slackened, allowing him to pull away. But, his fight with Lance was already forgotten.

His eyes caught Pidge’s, “What’s his deal?”

Pidge only shrugged, but Hunk answered. “You two.”

Lance blew raspberries, “Guess we should expect another lecture on teamwork tomorrow.”

Keith frowned. “I’m going to check on him.” He stood from the table as well, circling around to follow the way Shiro had went.

Lance’s voice carried behind him, “Maybe put in a good word? Tell him it was all your fault, spare the rest of us a lecture?”

His hands balled at his side, but he didn’t take the bait. Getting away from Lance was just as good as winning an argument.

It didn’t take him long to track Shiro down. He caught him just as he was opening the door to his quarters. “Shiro?”

Shiro’s shoulders tensed for a fraction of a second before smoothing back out. He stopped with one foot inside, turning to Keith. “Yes?”

“I…” Keith thought, trying to find something to say. Why had he followed in the first place? He quickly glanced over his friend, taking note of the heavy circles under his eyes. “Are you okay?”

Shiro’s face softened, but he still had stress lines around his eyes- and the dark bags gave away more than anything. “I’m fine. Like I told Pidge, I’m just tired.”

Keith took a step closer. “Not just now. How are you? You were gone a long time and-”

“-Please.” Shiro looked away, looking like he was weighing his chances of escaping into his room. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Keith shut his eyes. There was once a time were Shiro would confide everything to him; all of his fears and doubts about the academy, about his missions. “You- you don’t have to talk to me about it. Just… promise me you’ll talk to someone?”

“I…” Shiro sighed. “Thank you, for your concern.” A small smile tugged his lips, before being replaced with a frown. “Actually… there is something I’d like to speak with you about.”

“Okay,” Keith swallowed, not knowing what to expect.

He led Keith into his room, closing the door behind them. Keith took a chair across from Shiro and waited for him to talk.

And waited.

Shiro stared out the window, lost in his thoughts. Keith swallowed, now even more concerned over what Shiro could possibly want to talk about.

He cleared his throat, “Shiro?”

Nothing. Shiro continued to stare out the window.

Keith sighed. He’d always had a bit of a habit of spacing out when something weighed heavy on his mind. But, since he’d returned, the episodes seemed to happen more often. Or maybe he was just spending more time monitoring Shiro.

The white fluff of Shiro’s bangs caught his attention. He used to poke at Shiro’s bangs, something which started out as teasing. Then, when Shiro didn’t react, he started to run his fingers through it, trying to catch Shiro off guard. It had been a fun game, and also incredibly intimate.

Had the texture changed along with the color? He had to know. Keith reached forward, only to have his wrist snatched in Shiro’s tight grip.

After a few seconds of confusion, Shiro let go, and a small smile found a way to his lips. “Nice try. My reflexes are better. No more bang pulling for you.”

Keith frowned, he only pulled his banges once! “The white is nice, it suits you.”

Shiro shrugged. “Not sure why… it just is.”

“Can I touch it?”

Shiro’s eyes snapped to his. “What?”

Keith shrugged, playing it off. “Guess the only way to touch it is with your permission Mr. Reflexes. I wanna know if it’s still as soft as it used to be.”

“I never understood your obsession with my hair.” Shiro looked away. “And no… I like my personal space. I’m sure you understand.”

“Yea.” Keith sighed, a chill running through him. Yet another thing Shiro now wanted no part of. How long until he didn’t want to talk to him at all? “What did you want to talk about?”

“Lance.”

Keith groaned. “Anything else. I only get so much time away from him a day, and talking about him isn’t how I’d like to spend it.”

“Keith-”

“Don’t ‘Keith’ me. We used to be close. And when you left- when you disappeared - I thought I’d never have a chance at that again.”

“Keith…”

“And now… you can’t even just spend time with me. And I know- our mission comes first. But we can still hang out- like we used to.” Keith’s chest heaved, the words he’d had pent up tumbled from his mouth unchecked. “I understand if you don’t want to talk about what happened while you were gone, but it doesn’t mean I’m not worried about you. Just, talk to me about other things. About the weird food. Something.”

Shiro held his hand up. “You’re right. Our mission comes first. And that is why I want to talk about Lance.”

Keith deflated. Out of everything, that was what he latched on to? Fine. He squared his shoulders and set his jaw. If Shiro didn’t want to be anything more than teammates, then that’s all he would get.  
“Okay. What about Lance?”

“Your fighting… it's…” Shiro sighed, “I really don’t like bringing this up- because it’s not really my place. But, you two need to stop flirting. It’s getting in the way of-”

“Flirting? With Lance?” Keith stood from his chair, flailing his arms as he yelled, “We can barely stand each other, and you think we’re flirting?”

“Well, Pidge and Hunk think-”

Keith stopped pacing, turning to Shiro. “I’m not flirting with him!”

“But you-”

“No.” Keith stalked back to stand in front of Shiro. “You wouldn’t know flirting if it smacked you in the face.” He reached forward, not processing the action until it was too late. His fingers found their way through Shiro’s bangs, and they were just as soft as he remembered. Then, the realization hit him and he pulled his hand away, stumbling backwards.

Shiro blinked at him, frozen in his chair.

Keith tried to keep his voice steady. “I’ll try to get along with Lance. Maybe you should have a private conversation with him as well, he may respond better to that than a group lecture.” As he spoke, he backed up towards the door.

“Keith…”

“I’ll see you at breakfast.” He turned to open the door.

“Wait.” Shiro quickly crossed the room, grabbing Keith’s hand before he could open the door. “I- I’m sorry. I didn’t know-”

“-Obviously-”

“-that you felt the same way.” Shiro’s whispered words washed over Keith.

“You…?” Keith turned around.

Shiro nodded, looking down at Keith’s hand still in his. He brought it up to his bangs. “I didn’t want you to… I thought you… and this just…” He nuzzled against Keith’s hand.

“Shiro,” Keith said his name like he was the only person left in the universe. He leaned forward, bringing his lips closer to Shiro’s. But, Shiro pulled away.

“Keith, Shiro breathed. “I can’t. Not now.” He blinked away the growing wetness in his eyes. “Not until I have my memories back, until I can trust myself completely.”

Keith leaned back, looking away and blinking back his own tears.

“I understand if you can’t wait.”

“I waited a year while you were gone. I’ll wait as long as you need me to. Just… please, can we start to go back to how it was before…”

Shiro pulled him close, his strong arms wrapping around his waist with just enough force. “I’ll try my best, Keith. That’s all I can promise right now.”

Keith melted into the embrace. “I’m always here for you. You don’t have to go through this alone.” He looked up, meeting Shiro’s eyes, “Even if you just want me to sit with you when you’re having a rough time. Just say the word.”

“Thank you.” Shiro gave him a squeeze then released his hold. They both immediately felt the loss, but knew there would be more in the future. “Get some sleep?”

Keith reached up, gently touching under Shiro’s eyes. “You too. You’re starting to look like a raccoon.”

Shiro nodded with a smile, and Keith left. And although they were physically alone, they both slept soundly knowing they had someone special waiting just down the hall.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> As always- please point out any mistakes so I may fix them :)


End file.
